The unofficial online home for fans of the UAB Blazers. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

(02-18-2015 01:05 PM)58-56 Wrote:  

(02-18-2015 10:27 AM)mixduptransistor Wrote:  I doubt that had anything to do with the Bulls moving up north. The Bulls moving up north had to do with the fact that it was Alabama in the 90s. The NHL couldn't make it work in Atlanta, so I'm not shocked minor league hockey couldn't make it in a town that is so obsessed with football that we couldn't make pro or semi-pro football work here.

Of course college hockey is different because *gasp* college sports aren't expected to be money makers unlike professional leagues.

It was the late 70's. The Bulls didn't move, they folded (along with Cincinnati). I suspect Basset's "impulsive personality" had something to do with the Bulls getting left out of the NHL deal as well (he pulled his Tampa team out of the USFL a few years later in a spat with Trump and tried to join the CFL). He later died of a brain tumor and that might have helped fuel his eccentricities.

The Birmingham Bulls moved to Atlantic City in 2001.

(02-18-2015 08:33 PM)mixduptransistor Wrote:  The Birmingham Bulls moved to Atlantic City in 2001.

Matrix tied his point about Tony McKegney to the WHA Bulls and the missed chance at an NHL franchise via the WHA-NHL merger, not the team's minor-league namesake. The McKegney story was a very big deal among hockey followers, as he instantly starred for Buffalo. There were other factors in the Bulls getting left out, but Birmingham definitely paid a price for racism.

Why wouldn't UAB get up a club team? If Alabama can play in Pelham, why can't the Blazers?

(02-18-2015 10:17 PM)PTBlazer Wrote:  Why wouldn't UAB get up a club team? If Alabama can play in Pelham, why can't the Blazers?

(02-18-2015 10:27 AM)mixduptransistor Wrote:  I doubt that had anything to do with the Bulls moving up north. The Bulls moving up north had to do with the fact that it was Alabama in the 90s. The NHL couldn't make it work in Atlanta, so I'm not shocked minor league hockey couldn't make it in a town that is so obsessed with football that we couldn't make pro or semi-pro football work here.

Of course college hockey is different because *gasp* college sports aren't expected to be money makers unlike professional leagues.

You're talking about the 2nd running of the Bulls that relocated, the McKegney incident took place with the 1st Bulls franchise in the early to mid 1970's which IIRC, folded along with the club in Phoenix after the NHL took the majority of the remaining WHA teams. The 2nd installment of the Bulls came years later.

IF UAB decided to consider starting hockey, would the BJCC still be able to invest in it by providing the ice rink - or would UAB have to go to Pelham like Bama does? When was the last time the BJCC hosted an ice show (Holiday on Ice, Disney on Ice, etc.)

The same demographic that supports hockey in Huntsville is present in the metro area around B'ham.

Disney on Ice appears at the BJCC about once a quarter.

Pelham would be the better option.

I don't think UAB needs a hockey team. We can't even support the teams we have and football is still a lingering question. UAH is doing fine with their hockey program, no need to complicate things.

(02-19-2015 01:43 PM)mixduptransistor Wrote:  I don't think UAB needs a hockey team. We can't even support the teams we have and football is still a lingering question. UAH is doing fine with their hockey program, no need to complicate things.

Most would agree that as long as football is "a lingering question", no other major sport can be undertaken by UAB. The hockey team would only reach viable question status if that "lingering question" of football is answered in the negative, and UAB is thought to need an additional national sport.

Another possibility is Lacrosse which can use the new soccer facility. Of course, it remains possible that the ultimate result of killing football is the total end of all UAB athletics unless we can get used to a lower level of participation.

(02-19-2015 02:49 PM)BAMANBLAZERFAN Wrote:  

(02-19-2015 01:43 PM)mixduptransistor Wrote:  I don't think UAB needs a hockey team. We can't even support the teams we have and football is still a lingering question. UAH is doing fine with their hockey program, no need to complicate things.

Most would agree that as long as football is "a lingering question", no other major sport can be undertaken by UAB. The hockey team would only reach viable question status if that "lingering question" of football is answered in the negative, and UAB is thought to need an additional national sport.

Another possibility is Lacrosse which can use the new soccer facility. Of course, it remains possible that the ultimate result of killing football is the total end of all UAB athletics unless we can get used to a lower level of participation.

If UAB is "thought" to need "another national sport" then they should reinstate football.

Hockey would only be a club team.

(02-17-2015 09:09 PM)uabbean Wrote:  

(02-17-2015 04:47 PM)bladhmadh Wrote:  

(02-17-2015 10:25 AM)pbt140 Wrote:  Guys, they are moving up in ACHA 'Club' hockey, not in NCAA.

Is still non-scholarship club hockey

The one million a year that UAT would lose is peanuts.
However SEC Hockey on a NCAA level is very unlikely because of title 9, Most schools already may be forced to another women's sport.

I can imagine they are already investigating Mud Rasslin as the yang sport for the ying of hockey to balance out the gender thing.

(02-19-2015 05:11 PM)BlazrDawg Wrote:  

(02-17-2015 09:09 PM)uabbean Wrote:  

(02-17-2015 04:47 PM)bladhmadh Wrote:  

(02-17-2015 10:25 AM)pbt140 Wrote:  Guys, they are moving up in ACHA 'Club' hockey, not in NCAA.

Is still non-scholarship club hockey

The one million a year that UAT would lose is peanuts.
However SEC Hockey on a NCAA level is very unlikely because of title 9, Most schools already may be forced to another women's sport.

I can imagine they are already investigating Mud Rasslin as the yang sport for the ying of hockey to balance out the gender thing.

UAB needs a fall sport to play this fall. What are our choices?

The Tuscaloosa campus will just add another 24 girls on the rowing team.

(02-19-2015 07:39 PM)BAMANBLAZERFAN Wrote:  

(02-19-2015 05:11 PM)BlazrDawg Wrote:  

(02-17-2015 09:09 PM)uabbean Wrote:  

(02-17-2015 04:47 PM)bladhmadh Wrote:  

(02-17-2015 10:25 AM)pbt140 Wrote:  Guys, they are moving up in ACHA 'Club' hockey, not in NCAA.

Is still non-scholarship club hockey

The one million a year that UAT would lose is peanuts.
However SEC Hockey on a NCAA level is very unlikely because of title 9, Most schools already may be forced to another women's sport.

I can imagine they are already investigating Mud Rasslin as the yang sport for the ying of hockey to balance out the gender thing.

UAB needs a fall sport to play this fall. What are our choices?

Bammer football watching team.

(02-18-2015 03:53 PM)the_blazerman Wrote:  Jerome "Get Out Of My Yard" Bechard was a favorite of Bulls fans during his years in Birmingham.
He would be the one always getting into fights & being the tough guy.

Kind of reminded you of wrestler Mick Foley.

Seeing Jerome Bechard and that Bulls logo really brings back a LOT of memories for me. I used to drive down from Hartselle about twice a month to watch a Bulls game. In 1993-1994, I was in 11th grade and I went to a LOT of Bulls games that season. I was more of a Birmingham Bulls fan at that point in my life than I was of UAB football or UAH hockey, as far as attendance goes. I was paying attention to all 3 of those teams, but only attending Bulls games then.